Voter access
Updated: November 1, 2012
CHAMPAIGN COUNTY -- Some voters are worried their voices won't be heard.
They say they're being forced to take extra steps during the grace period, that could prevent their vote from counting at all.
We talked to a voter who wasn't registered yet. He was told an application would have to be mailed to him, then once he turned that in, the absentee ballot would be mailed to him and he'd have to send that back.
Some people say that's just too long of a process.
"Luckily I had enough time to get it in and I had a ride. But if somebody doesn't have that it's gonna be extremely different," said voter David Collier.
"We treat all of our grace period ballots that are mailed exactly as we treat everybody else's absentee ballots. If there is a time crunch, there's a time crunch because the individual has waited 5 days before the election to vote," said County Clerk Gordy Hulten.
Senator Frerichs and Representative Jakobsson held a press conference about this Thursday. They say all of the mailing is putting a burden on voters and they want to create legislation for an easier solution.
The grace period for registration ends November 3, and ballots need to be in by November 5.
We talked to a voter who wasn't registered yet. He was told an application would have to be mailed to him, then once he turned that in, the absentee ballot would be mailed to him and he'd have to send that back.
Some people say that's just too long of a process.
"Luckily I had enough time to get it in and I had a ride. But if somebody doesn't have that it's gonna be extremely different," said voter David Collier.
"We treat all of our grace period ballots that are mailed exactly as we treat everybody else's absentee ballots. If there is a time crunch, there's a time crunch because the individual has waited 5 days before the election to vote," said County Clerk Gordy Hulten.
Senator Frerichs and Representative Jakobsson held a press conference about this Thursday. They say all of the mailing is putting a burden on voters and they want to create legislation for an easier solution.
The grace period for registration ends November 3, and ballots need to be in by November 5.
